Streetbeat News

Regulatory

UNP

Union Pacific's Customs Trade Partnership Against Terrorism certification has been temporarily suspended for 90 days by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agency, according to Reuters.

Portfolio Pulse from Happy Mohamed

August 25, 2023 | 8:10 pm

MA

TWLO

Mastercard Inc (MA) has banned dispensaries from conducting debit card transactions for cannabis-related purchases, citing federal laws that consider such sales illegal. This move has forced cannabis enterprises to revert to traditional cash transactions or Automated Clearing House (ACH) transfers. Twilio Inc (TWLO), a communications service provider, has also banned cannabis entities from using its software for promotional activities, reflecting the broader reluctance of established players to engage with the cannabis sector due to legal complexities.

Portfolio Pulse from Joana Scopel

August 25, 2023 | 8:02 pm

BTCUSD

The U.S. Treasury Department has proposed new guidelines suggesting that crypto brokers be treated similarly to traditional investment brokers. The rules require crypto brokers and exchanges to report specific crypto sales, including Bitcoin and non-fungible tokens. The initiative aims to bridge the tax gap and ensure fair play. The Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service rolled out these proposed regulations in line with the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021. If adopted, brokers would start reporting details on digital asset sales and exchanges by 2025, potentially yielding around $28 billion over the next decade.

Portfolio Pulse from Murtuza Merchant

August 25, 2023 | 7:56 pm

BCTX

BriaCell Therapeutics Corp. (NASDAQ:BCTX) has received court approval for a plan of arrangement to spin out certain pipeline assets, including Bria-TILsRx™ and protein kinase C delta (PKCδ) inhibitors, to BriaPro Therapeutics Corp. (SpinCo). The arrangement will result in a 2/3 owned subsidiary of BriaCell, with the remaining 1/3 held by BriaCell shareholders. The arrangement is expected to take place on August 31, 2023. Following the arrangement, BriaCell will remain listed on the NASDAQ and Toronto Stock Exchange, while SpinCo will become an unlisted reporting issuer in Canada.

Portfolio Pulse from Happy Mohamed

August 25, 2023 | 6:57 pm

SPY

Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester has reiterated the need for two future rate hikes to bring inflation down to the Fed's target of 2%. She noted that while progress has been made, with one of the two predicted hikes already implemented, inflation remains too high. Mester's comments follow Fed Chairman Jerome Powell's earlier statement that the Fed is prepared to raise rates further if necessary. The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE:SPY) rose 0.2% on the day.

Portfolio Pulse from Chris Katje

August 25, 2023 | 6:18 pm

ETHUSD

A total of 4,300.01 Ether (ETH) worth $7,052,020 was burned from Ethereum transactions on Thursday. This follows the implementation of the Ethereum improvement proposal EIP-1159, which changes the fee model and burns a base fee from each transaction, reducing the supply of Ether. Ethereum is currently issuing new Ether at a rate of 4% per year, expected to decrease to 0.5-1% with the Ethereum 2.0 upgrade. The net annualized issuance rate for Ether was -3.72% yesterday.

Portfolio Pulse from Benzinga Insights

August 25, 2023 | 6:00 pm

AZN

BMY

JNJ

LLY

MRK

PFE

AstraZeneca has announced a legal challenge against the U.S. government's Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) that allows Medicare to negotiate more competitive drug prices. Other pharmaceutical companies including Johnson & Johnson, Merck & Co, Bristol Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly, and Pfizer have echoed this sentiment, suggesting that such a provision threatens the innovation and development of new therapeutic solutions. The pharmaceutical world is watching closely as the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is set to negotiate prices for ten high-value drugs next month.

Portfolio Pulse from Vandana Singh

August 25, 2023 | 5:49 pm

BA

FXI

Boeing is preparing to restart deliveries of its 737 Max to China after a hiatus of nearly four years, according to Bloomberg. This comes as China's aviation regulator is reportedly close to lifting a grounding order on the jet.

Portfolio Pulse from Benzinga Newsdesk

August 25, 2023 | 5:16 pm

WFC

Minnesota and Mississippi have seen significant revenue surges from the sales of hemp-derived THC and medical cannabis respectively. Maryland is reportedly collaborating with Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) to potentially avoid directly identifying marijuana tax revenue on financial documents, using alternative language to describe the revenue source. This is said to be an effort to protect the bank due to federal regulations.

Portfolio Pulse from Nicolás Jose Rodriguez

August 25, 2023 | 4:49 pm

IDEX

Ideanomics has executed a 1-for-125 reverse stock split to regain compliance with the Nasdaq minimum bid requirement. This has led to a decrease in the company's stock price.

Portfolio Pulse from Benzinga Newsdesk

August 25, 2023 | 4:46 pm